Farhad Manjooargues that buying books on Amazon is better for authors, readers and the economy — and that brick-and-mortar bookstores are frustrating and disappointing. His piece is a rebuttal to a New York Times editorial by author Richard Russo, who bemoans the loss of independent bookstores for many of the reasons bookstore-lovers might imagine.

Certainly, no one can argue with the fact that Amazon sells books at lower prices and has brought more titles to the masses than any single bookstore could ever hope to. Amazon has been good for readers that way.

But I’ve got a few bones to pick with Manjoo. Here’s one of his main points:

Compared with online retailers, bookstores present a frustrating consumer experience. A physical store—whether it’s your favorite indie or the humongous Barnes & Noble at the mall—offers a relatively paltry selection, no customer reviews, no reliable way to find what you’re looking for, and a dubious recommendations engine. Amazon suggests books based on others you’ve read; your local store recommends what the employees like. If you don’t choose your movies based on what the guy at the box office recommends, why would you choose your books that way?

Now, surfing online and milling around a physical bookstore aren’t the same thing. You are surrounded by books in a store; you are not physically surrounded online. Sure, we discover books in different ways now — friends recommend titles on FB, we follow people who tweet about books, and so on. But in a bookstore, there’s a different sort of happenstance that occurs when you see a display of books by local authors, or wander into the photography aisle and spend 20 minutes leafing through Pilgrimage, Annie Leibovitz’s new photography book. You CAN’T leaf through that book online, as far as I know. And unless you’ve exhibited a book-buying interest in photography, Amazon ain’t going to recommend it.

Which brings me to me second point.

Think of Amazon as a fully loaded salad bar. Most of us will go up to a salad bar and, with a few variations, make the same sort of salad we always make. Maybe you’re a carrots and cucumbers fan who always avoids beets and chick peas.

We shop for books that way, too. Me, when I read for pleasure I steer clear of biography, how-to and mystery and head straight for fiction. Nothing against other genres — that’s just my preference. Sure, Amazon might be able to recommend a fiction title for me, but it usually takes a bookseller (or a friend or a book review) to convince me to step outside what I think I like and load up on beets and chick peas.

Sure, some independent bookstores are better than others. But the really good ones hire employees who are experts in things like… Steampunk. These are folks who have already read the first five mysteries by the author who hit it big with mystery number 6. Who make it their business to know all the new children’s books that will likely make a splash in the upcoming year.

Here’s another argument from Manjoo:

Amazon has also been instrumental in helping authors create more books. With the Kindle, it launched a self-publishing system that allows anyone to sell a Kindle book. There’s also its Kindle Singles program, which transforms stuff that the book industry wouldn’t otherwise be able to sell—shorter-than-book-length magazine articles, essays, and fiction—into material that can be sold for money.

More isn’t better, people. The problem with the Internet is that it ISN”T curated. Yes it’s great that writers whose work deserves readers have more ways to deliver books and articles to the public. But I don’t want to read “anyone’s” Kindle book. Do you?

Plus, the atmosphere is better in bookstores. Sometimes, famous writers are reading aloud there — at no charge. And it gets you (and the kids) out of the house.